Jon Moxley Justifies His Journey to AEW with World Title Win vs. Chris Jericho

The Moxley era has begun. 

So went the most notable final call from All Elite Wrestling's Revolution pay-per-view Saturday night after Jon Moxley dethroned Chris Jericho to win the promotion's top title. 

It was a poetic win, really, after a longer-than-expected chase for one of the top names in the wrestling world today. AEW did a smooth job of keeping Moxley out of the title scene for as long as possible before throwing him in there and delaying his win. 

But the match was a classical one in many ways, and it was only right it ended with Moxley holding the belt high. It had a little bit of everything, with Jericho's Inner Circle throwing out some help before getting ejected. It bloodied both men. It had the bad guy exploiting lapses from the referee and using his opponent's injuries to his advantage. 

And in a way, Moxley pulled one over again on Jericho, playing up the villain's cocky ways and using it against him. Much like Moxley fooled Jericho about joining his Inner Circle in the buildup to this one, he also revealed he was just playing possum with the eye injury the whole time. 

That's the type of fun stuff the Moxley character can do free from the constraints of a more conservative promotion and why he's often the recipient of the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin comparisons. 

Even better, as Moxley said in his post-win address to the fans, it all justifies the journey here. He bet it all on leaving WWE and went from being the goofy character who had to do questionable promos while never really getting that one big push to the headline act in perhaps all of wrestling. 

Rest assured Moxley made sure his address was all about the fans. His gratitude was incredibly genuine, and the title win does indeed belong to them given the incredible support AEW has received. But it goes both ways—a Moxley unchained can drive a whole promotion to unexpected heights and keep it there. 

Which is what makes the future so exciting, right? Where do things go from here? Moxley is the champion, and fans know he'll defend it against anyone at any time. The feud possibilities are literally endless, especially if Cody's unexpected loss to MJF opens up the latter to shooting into the main event. 

There's a Jericho rematch to consider, of course. But any number of stars from the roster can now go right up the ladder and get in a bout with a guy who won't be afraid to put his title on the line or come up with excuses. Said challengers won't have to worry about a posse ambushing him, either. 

Understand Jericho is still a part of the excitement for the future too, for what it's worth. He doesn't need the title to be effective. Everything he has touched since Dynamite went on the air has been absolute gold. Even if he's not chasing Moxley—though chase-mode Jericho would be fun—the undeniable result is must-see Jericho segments. 

Jericho or otherwise, it feels like we're just beginning what could end up being a golden era for AEW. Moxley now gets to run a promotion as he sees fit from the very top. This isn't a WWE title reign littered with 50-50 booking and throwing the same old names against each other. It's about the long haul, and like Cody and other top names such as Kenny Omega, Moxley isn't going to be afraid to make other talent look great for the sake of the promotion over the long haul. 

While Moxley going after the title in a loose-cannon fashion encouraged fans to tune in each week, actual title-defense Moxley only moves the needle more for Dynamite on a weekly basis. If and when he loses, though we're a long, long time from it, the eventual person to dethrone him will become a top star too. 

For now in the immediate aftermath, Moxley the character was ready to go slam some beers as the pay-per-view went off the air. Fans can just take solace in the fact a feud ended at the proper time, kicked off the start of a new era and is led up by a guy with the upside of putting on the outright best possible title reign of any promotion right now. 

It isn't necessarily full circle for Jon Moxley, but the road he's traveled so far has certainly been validated after cementing his place in AEW—he's still working on cementing his spot in wrestling history.